GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 2)

Grace Thoughts

GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 2)

The objective of our new series is to answer some basic questions that many people ask –

Why do I exist?
Why am I here on planet Earth?
What’s my purpose in life?
What does the future hold for me?
What will happen to me after I die?
Why is there evil in the world?
Why did God create the devil?

These questions will lead us to many other questions as we go through the series, but we’ll use these basic life questions as ‘jumping-off’ places for other questions.

Deep Dive

I mentioned in the introduction to this series that we’d do a ‘deep dive’ into these questions. What I mean by that is going ‘below’ the surface answers that we often hear from people. I personally think that ‘surface’ answers or no answers at all are a big part of the problem we see today in Christianity. Tens of thousands of people who grew up in Christian churches are abandoning their basic beliefs in Christianity every year through a process known as ‘deconstruction’ and/or ‘deconversion.’ I’ve written a lot about both of those on my Apologetics blog, FaithandSelfDefense.com, so feel free to click over there sometime and search for the words ‘deconstruction’ or ‘deconversion’ to see what articles you find. I also wrote an eBook you may find helpful. It’s titled EXvangelical – What’s That?

Question #1

Keep in mind that I’m going to answer questions from a Christian perspective. Having studied many worldviews (and even lived several), I don’t think you’ll find good answers elsewhere. Probably something else you should know about me is that I believe Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and has ALL of the answers to every question. I also believe the Holy Spirit is a Member of the Godhead and inspired human beings (primarily prophets and apostles) to write the individual books we know collectively as ‘the Bible.’ The Holy Spirit also has ALL of the answers to every question. If you disagree, please share your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below and we can ‘discuss’ so others can read our supporting evidence for each position.

Why do I exist?

You exist because God wants you to exist. God created the heavens and the earth. ‘He is that He is’ (‘I AM that I AM’). God is ‘Self-Existent,’ meaning that He is the ‘Necessary’ Being. Humans, and every other life form on the Earth, and the universe itself, is ‘contingent’ on God’s existence. God exists. Nothing or no one else has to exist. God existed in Eternity before ‘anything’ else existed. He exists because He exists. We exist because He exists and wants us to exist. God is the ‘uncaused Cause’ of all things. He exists because He exists – always has and always will – ‘Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God’ (Psalm 90:2).

You and I exist for a reason. That would be God’s reason for our existence. We discover His reason by reading what He revealed about His reason –

Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:26-28

Image and likeness. Both of those words are very important in light of the other life forms God created in His image and likeness. However, as far as we know there are none. The Bible does say that God made humans ‘a little lower than the angels’ (Psalm 8:5), but it doesn’t say that God made angels in His image and likeness. The Bible does say that angels are ‘ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation’ (Hebrews 1:14). We also know that Jesus Christ is ‘so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they (Hebrews 1:4). The Bible says that each true Christian is ‘an heir of God through Christ’ (Galatians 4:7) and ‘heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ’ (Romans 8:17). The Bible says that Christians will ‘judge angels’ (1 Corinthians 6:3) and ‘rule and reign’ with Christ (Revelation 5:10; 20:4-6; 22:5). Based on what we see in Scripture, it seems likely that God made only humans in His image and likeness.

God’s Purpose

God explained His purpose for creating human beings in the first Book of the Bible and the last Book of the Bible –

… let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:26-28

A ‘key word’ here is ‘dominion.’ It’s the Hebrew word רָדָה (radah) and means ‘to rule.’ The word ‘subdue’ will play an important part in our series, but I’ll save that part of the deep dive for another time.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Revelation 20:6

There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:5

Notice that humans ‘ruling and reigning’ with God are His purpose for us.

[Podcast of this study coming soon.]

Next Time

There’s just one problem with this – humans are not ‘ruling and reigning’ with God. Thousands of years have gone by without God’s purpose being realized by humans on earth. So, what do make of that? How did humans lose their way and how will they get it back? We’ll address those questions in the next part of our special series – Train to Reign.

Bible StudyChristianityDominionGod the CreatorJesus ChristReign with ChristTraining

Published by gracelifethoughts

Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts